Mars Program Planning Group: Summary of the Final Report ———— 25 September 2012

Mars Program Planning Group: Summary of the Final Report
25 September 2012

• The MPPG effort was initiated by NASA in March 2012, motivated by:
– The need to re-plan a U.S. Mars program in light of the President’s FY2013 Budget
Submittal
– The NRC 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey recommendations for Mars
exploration in the context of the budget submittal, and subsequent new discoveries
– The POTUS challenge for humans in Mars orbit in the 2030s
• The purpose of the MPPG was to develop foundations for a programlevel architecture for robotic exploration of Mars that is consistent with
the President’s challenge of sending humans to Mars in the decade of
the 2030s, yet remain responsive to the primary scientific goals of the
2011 NRC Decadal Survey for Planetary Science.
• Consistent with its charter, MPPG reached out to internal and external
science, technology and engineering communities, to develop mission
options and program architecture alternatives for NASA’s consideration